Combination cigarette package and ash receptacle



0a. 8, 1968 w. w. PEERY 3,404,770

COMBINATION CIGARETTE PACKAGE AND ASH RECEPTACLE Filed Dec. 29, 1967 mvEm'oR WILLIAM \N. PEERY BY Q-awd k ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,404,770 COMBINATION CIGARETTE PACKAGE AND ASH RECEPTACLE William W. Peery, 400 W. Colfax, Denver, Colo. 80204 Filed Dec. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 694,471 9 Claims. (Cl. 206-41) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An ash receptacle for reception within conventional cigarette packages being formable from a blank of preferably fireproof material and being of rectangular cross section; said receptacle being dimensioned so as to accommodate unsmoked cigarettes with the original packaging arrangement.

Background of the invention This invention relates generally to cigarette packages and, more particularly, to ash receptacles therefor.

Heretofore, numerous efforts have been made to develop a receptacle for ashes, partially smoked cigarettes, and like debris for integration with cigarette packages. It has been recognized that too often cigarette smokers, after lighting the cigarette, discover that the particular environment is devoid of any suitable receiver for ashes and the like. Thus, to overcome this contingency, certain expedients have been created for presenting such a receiver in connection with the individual cigarette package. However, up to the present time, all such efforts have entailed the increasing of the size of the customary cigarette package. For example, the Quericio Patent No. 3,057,465 discloses an extension for engagement upon a cigarette package and with the extension incorporating a slideable drawer. The Sandacz Patent No. 3,090,482 and Gartrell et al. Patent No. 2,849,154 present structures which exemplify the provision of a receptacle located outvvandly of the cigarette package and adapted for outward opening therefrom. A related structure is shown in the Adams Patent No. 2,958,417. The Davey Patent No. 3,112,029 reveals the provision of a compartment physically connected to the cigarette package but having a swingable spout-like closure member for providing access to the compartment. Thus, the prior art structures have not proved acceptable since the same require a fundamental modification of the cigarette package, with attendant production costs, as well as, for the most part, causing an enhancement in the size thereof and thus rendering said packages less easily manipulatable. The requiste increased size of such cigarette packages renders the same incapable of being handled by current cigarette vending machines so that the aforesaid prior art structures are impractical in view of present day merchandising. Accordingly, the problem of providing an ash receptacle which does not increase the overall dimensions of the cigarette package, and the production of which does not bring about a relative prohibitive increase in cost has not heretofore been solved.

Summary of the invention It is an object of the present invention to provide an ash receptacle for reception within the existing conventional type of cigarette package so that the usage of the same does not require a change in any dimension of such package.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ash receptacle for use with conventional cigarette packages which may be most economically formed from 3 ,404,770 Patented Oct. 8, 1968 a single blank of fireproof material and which may be easily received within the package.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an ash receptacle of the character stated which, if desired, may be integrally formed with, and as a part of, the blank for the liner of the cigarette package.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ash receptacle of the character stated which incorporates a hinged closure allowing of facile reception of ashes and the like, while simultaneously serving to prevent accidental and untoward displacement of such received material.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a receptacle of the character stated which is most economical in manufacture; which is of simple construction; the use of which does not reduce the cigarette-capacity of a cigarette package; and which is extremely reliable and durable in usage.

Brief description 0 the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a cigarette package incorporating an ash receptacle constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is vertical transverse section taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a blank of sheet material from which the ash receptacle may be formed;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the ash receptacle in fully formed condition.

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of a blank of sheet material from which the ash receptacle of the present invention and the packaged liner may be formed.

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view of the blank illustrated in FIGURE 6 in fully formed condition.

Description of the practical embodiments Referring now to the drawings which illustrate practical embodiments of the present invention, A generally designates a cigarette package or container of conventional character, being adapted to contain the customary 20 cigarettes when completely filled. Said package comprises relatively wide parallel front and rear sides 1, 2, and relatively narrower parallel end walls 3, 4, there being a bottom wall 5 and a top 6 which is swingably mounted on the back wall v2 along a hinge line 7; said top 6 being of the type more popularly known as flip top. Thus, the walls of cigarette package A cooperate to define a compartment 8 for receiving cigarettes, as indicated at c. Provided within compartment 8 for reinforcing purposes is a liner 9, as formed of paperboard, having a forward wall portion 10 and lateral wall portions 11, 12, which latter are disposed against the upper portions of end walls 3, 4, respectively, and said forward portion 10 abutting against the inner face of front wall 1; said liner being secured to the confronting portions of package A, as by a suitable adhesive and projecting upwardly beyond the upper margins of the adjacent wall portions for enclosure of cigarettes c. Front portion 10 of liner 9 is cut away in its upper zone, as at 13, so as to permit ready access to cigarettes c for ease of withdrawal.

It is to be understood that cigarette package A is merely exemplary of cigarette packages in general since the present invention, to be described hereinbelow, may be used with any type of conventional cigarette package.

Presented for disposition with compartment 8 is an ash receptacle 14 being preferably quadrilateral in cross section and having narrow, parallel front and rear walls 15, 16 and relatively wider parallel side walls 17, 18; there being a bottom wall 19 and a top closure 20 adapted for 3 1 vertical swingable movement about a hinge line 21 located slightly downwardly of the upper end edge of said receptacle 14. Ash receptacle 14 is fabricated, desirably, of a suitable non-flammable material, such tinfoil or the like, and is located within compartment 8 so that wall 18 is in abutment against the inner face of lateral portion 12 of liner 9-and rear wall 16 abuts the inner face of rear wall 2 of package A. It will be observed that receptacle 14 is of such height as to be flush with the upper lateral edge portions of liner 9 and is of such front-to-back extent as to allow for the reception therein of two cigarettes, as at (FIGURE 3). Receptacle 14 may be secured within package A in any suitable manner so as to prevent accidental displacement as by an adhesive or the like.

It will thus be seen that in the original packing of package A-, two cigarettes, as c, are located within said receptacle 14 and would, expcctedly, be the first two cigarettes to be smoked, thereupon causing a progressive emptying of recetpacle 14 for full operative purposes.

Receptacle 14 may be readily formed from a single blank of sheet material, as indicated at 22 (FIGURE 4) which is contoured so as to provide a basic rectangular body portion 23 having an upper edge 24 and a lower edge 25 which latter is continuous with a horizontal fold line 26; said latter provides a line of demarcation between said body 23 and a tab portion 27. Formed in body 23 for extension between upper edge 24 and fold line 26 is a plurality of parallel fold lines 28 which are so relatively spaced apart as to define therebetween the areas constituting walls 15, 16, 17, 18. Tab 27 is divided by slits 29, 30, which are aligned with the fold lines 28 delineating wall 15, so as to divide tab 27 into three flaps 31, 32 and 33 which are continuous with walls 17, and 18, respectively, and being bendable about fold line 26 for purposes presently appearing. Adjacent wall portion 18 on the opposite side thereof from wall 15 is an elongated section 34 defined by bottom margin 25, a lateral edge 35 of body 23, the line of fold 28 between same and wall portion 18; said section 34 at its normally upper end projecting upwardly above top margin 24, as at 36; the transverse extent of section 34 being substantially the same as wall portion 16 and adjacent its normally upper end, spacedly downwardly from top margin 24, is provided with a transverse fold line 21, the inward end of which is adjacent a short vertical slot 38 extending through top margin 24 whereby to define top closure 20.

In order to assemble receptacle 14 the same is bent along fold lines 28 with wall 16 and section 34 being in overlapping relationship. Flaps 31, 32, 33 are folded overlappingly about fold line 26 so as to form the base of recepo tacle 14. Flap will thus be bent downwardly about fold line 21 for disposition into operative relationship as may best be seen in FIGURE 2. With receptacle 14 thus formed the same may then be inserted within package A and secured to the adjacent portions thereof by any suitable adhesive so as to prevent displacement of the same during usage.

Closure 20 through its fold line 21 is normally biased into closed condition so that the same will suitably yield under slight pressure to permit the entry into receptacle 14 of partially smoked cigarettes, ashes and the like and will tend to return to horizontal disposition as shown in full lines in FIGURE 2.

As may best be seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, the ash receptacle of the present invention may be integrally formed with a portion of the cigarette package A so as to conduce to more ready assembly. In FIGURE 6, B designates a unitary blank of suitable sheet material which is die cut to provide a receptacle portion C and a liner portion D. Said receptacle portion C is identical in construction with ash receptacle 14 hereinabove described, thus having wall portions 18, 15', 17', 16, a top closure 20, side section 34', tab 27' and fold lines 28', 26, and 21, all of which are identical in construction and use as the corresponding components of ash receptacle 14. Linder portion comprised of a forward wall portion 10, a pair of lateral wall portions 11, 12' foldable into planar perpendicular relationship with forward wall portion 10, there being a cut-out 13 in the upper portion of said forward wall portion 10; all of which components correspond in structure and operation with the like components of liner 9 above described. However, said receptacleportion C and liner portion D are integral along a fold line 40 which is coextensive with the outer edge of the adjacent lateral portion 12' and is continuous'with the upper portion of the adjacent lateral margin ofreceptacle, C, as indicated at 41. It will be observed that the top margin 42 of receptacle portion C is continuous across said fold line 40 with the adjacent top margin portion of liner D, as at 43.

Said receptacle C and liner D are folded in the manner of receptacle 14 and liner, respectively, as above described, into the position shown in FIGURE 7 wherein the same is ready for unitary insertion within package A.

From the foregoing it is thus apparent that the present invention is amenable to formation independent of package A or as an integral part of the same.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the formation, construction, and arrangement and combination of the several parts of the combination cigarette package and ash receptacle may be made and substituted for these herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to obtain by Letters Patent is:

1. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement comprising an ash and debris receptacle for disposition within said package compartment and having forward and rearward walls, side walls and a bottom wall, said receptacle being dimensioned for receiving a pair of cigarettes, said receptacle having a height substantially the same as that of the packag compartment.

2. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim 1 and further characterized by said receptacle having a greater dimension from front to rear than from side to side so that cigarettes contained therein will be positioned one behind the other.

3. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the

improvement as defined in claim 1 and further character-' ized by said receptacle having a top closure, said closure being hingedly engaged to the rearward wall and with its forward end being free.

4. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim 1 and further characterized by said receptacle being disposed within said cigarette compartment for abutment on its rearward wall portion against the inner face of the rear wall of said package and with one of its side walls being in abutment against the inner face of the proximate end wall of said package.

5. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end wallsand a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim 4 and further characterized by means for securing said receptacle to the inner face of the rear wall and adjacent end wall of the said package for maintaining same against inadvertent displacement.

6. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end wallsand a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim land further characterized by said receptacl being formed from a single blank of fire-proof sheet material, said blank having a plurality of spaced apart fold lines for defining therebetween the said front and rear wall portions and side wall portions, said blank having a tab portion at its normally lower end, means for dividing said tab into a plurality of flaps, means for folding said flaps into a plane parallel to that of the receptacle wall portions for constituting the bottom wall of said receptacle.

7. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim 6 and further characterized by said blank having a lateral section, means for folding said lateral section into lapping relationship with one of said side walls.

8. For use with a cigarette package having front and back walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim 7 and further characterized by said lateral section being of greater lateral extent than said wall portions, there being a transverse fold line provided in said lateral section normal to the side edges thereof, a flap defined by said transverse fold line for defining said hinged closure for the upper end of said receptacle.

9. For use with a cigarette package having front and back Walls, parallel end walls and a bottom wall, said walls defining a compartment for receiving cigarettes, the improvement as defined in claim 6 and further characterized by said blank having an extension comprising a central portion and end portions, there being fold lines between said central portion and said end portions parallel to the fold lines defining the wall portions of said receptacle, said central portion and end portions constituting a part of the walls of the cigarette package.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,126,092 3/1964 Maron 20641 3,143,206 8/1964 Sullins 206-41 JAMES B. MARBERT, Primary Examiner. 

